Ships in the Night
by Hyrde
Summary: One-shot: After the special RAW following the Royal Rumble, Brock targets Seth to unleash his anger out on. Will Seth's former brethren save him? Or will they even care? A companion one-shot to 'Fall for You' but can be read as a stand alone fic.


Ships in the Night

**A/N: Warning for language and adult content.**

Seth let out a deep sigh as he sat down in an empty chair in a secluded room in WWE headquarters and put his head in his hands. No doubt about it, Seth was mentally and physically exhausted from the past couple of days. He knew he wasn't going to win the triple threat at the Royal Rumble going into it but when you get in the ring and it seems so close within your reach, the feeling of losing a match that you gave your all in does wear on you a bit.

Add that to the stress of traveling and then changing locations last minute due to Mother Nature, all Seth really wanted to do was just collapse. He had just finished his segment with Michael Cole but was still stuck at headquarters since no vehicles except emergency ones were allowed on the road at this time.

Also, knowing that his once two best friends were in the same building as himself, led Seth to ducking into this unused room for the sole purpose of avoiding both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose. Seth didn't harbor any ill-will towards the men he still in his heart of hearts considered his brothers but he, unfortunately, couldn't say the same for Roman and Dean.

Seth sighed again as he rubbed his tired eyes. He really wanted to take his contacts out and go to sleep but his contact solution was in his car and he really didn't feel like braving the cold night at the moment. Plus, when the roads were deemed safe to travel on everyone was supposed to head out immediately to their next location and who knew when that would be. It could be in half a day or it could be in a few hours. Seth wondered whether it was worth it to take his contacts out now or wait a little bit.

While Seth was pondering this, eyes shut and with his head in his hands he didn't notice someone had walked into the room until he heard the door slam shut and the sound of the lock clicking into place. Seth sighed and raised his head expecting it to be either Reigns or Ambrose who were going to chew him out yet again. Instead, Seth's eyes widened as he stared at the massive and intimidating figure of Brock Lesnar who shot him a sadistic grin.

"Hey there, Seth," said Brock seemingly casual as he strode a few steps into the room, "where's your adorable security team?"

"They couldn't make it," replied Seth choosing to remain seated for now as he carefully watched Brock's every movement, his whole body tense, ready to spring out of the way if the Beast decided to attack him.

"What a shame," said Brock emotionlessly his face not giving away anything at all about what his intentions were, "I would have loved to have a few extra punching bags."

"Fuck you!" said Seth heatedly as he stood up from his chair to face Lesnar, his tired body momentarily forgotten at Brock's words. "Just because you're the champion right now, doesn't give you the right to bully anyone you want to and act like a pompous diva. Especially since you're a part-timer and not doing even half the work that the rest of us are. The least you could do is show your co-workers a little respect off camera," finished Seth as he glared daggers at the WWE champion who just looked amused.

"What is with you young guys?" questioned Brock rhetorically as he slowly cracked his knuckles and placed the WWE championship belt on the table in the room. "You know what your problem is, Rollins? And it's the same with Reigns and Ambrose. You guys just came onto the scene and automatically thought that you should be shown respect. Well I don't agree. People in this business don't give you respect. You take it. You demand it." Brock slowly stalked towards Seth as he spoke with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "And while all three of you are reasonably talented. None of you have the power to demand respect."

Seth stood his ground as Lesnar came right up into his personal space and gave him a chilling stare, looking Seth up and down as if inspecting his worth and finding it sorely lacking.

"You are nothing to me," stated Lesnar as he suddenly pushed Seth roughly into the nearest wall and held him there.

Surprised by Lesnar's quickness, Seth struggled a little too late. In a manner of seconds, he was already pinned and Seth knew that strength wise he was no match for Brock.

"However, you can make yourself useful by delivering a message to Roman for me."

"What are you talking about?" asked Seth incredulously still trying to work out what Lesnar had in mind, "We are not allies. Although, I'm no longer in the Shield, I'm not going to try and manipulate Roman for you. There's nothing in it for me." What Seth really wanted to say was, _fuck you, I've already betrayed my friends too many times and I don't plan on doing it again! _But like it or not, Seth was still with the Authority publicly so he still had to maintain his douche persona.

In response, Brock just gave Seth a weird smile and then all of a sudden punched Seth right in the gut.

Seth let out a choked gasp as all of the air raced out of his lungs. He went to instinctively clutch his middle but was stopped as he was righted by Brock who smiled again and then whispered into Seth's ear, "You can fool the Authority but you can't fool me, Seth."

Seth wheezed and gasped as he tried to get some air into his lungs so he could speak but his efforts were stopped as Lesnar grabbed both of his shoulders and this time brought his knee crashing up into Seth's ribs. This time Seth let out a cry as he crumpled to the floor. Seth moaned and shook in pain; his entire right side felt like it was on fire. Seth wasn't on the floor long as Brock scooped him up by the collar of his dress shirt tearing it a bit in the process and slammed him hard into the wall again which brought forth an even a louder cry from Seth.

Brock held Seth against the wall for a spell eyeing him calculatingly as if he was trying to decide how he was going to hurt the man next. "You can thank Reigns for this later, Rollins," said Brock casually as one of his hands dug into Seth's right side aggravating his rib injury even further. "The little shit thinks he can beat me. He thinks he knows me. He thinks he is my equal. Well this will show him just who I am and how dangerous I can truly be," said Brock as he dug even harder into Seth's ribs with each word.

Seth shouted in pain through gritted teeth as Brock pressed painfully down on his already bruised ribs. When Brock let up, Seth found a moment to get a word in edgewise, "You're wasting your time, Brock, Roman doesn't give a fuck about me," Seth let out a crazed laugh thinking to himself that he sounded a bit like Dean right now, "He couldn't care less what happens to me. This won't get inside his head. In fact, he might not even notice." Seth winced inwardly as he spoke those words, just the thought of Roman and Dean not even noticing that he was hurt stung deeply. Seth let out a hiss as Brock grabbed his hair that was gathered into a low ponytail and pulled his head back so that he was looking right up at him.

"If that's what you really think than you're stupider than I thought," growled Brock as he twisted Seth's hair roughly in his grip, "everyone in the locker room can see that all of you miss each other. The looks the three of you give each other when you think the other one isn't looking. The kind things that you do for each other behind each other's back is sickeningly sweet," spat Brock in Seth's face as if the very thought of something sweet and endearing personally offended the Beast. "I'll admit I'm impressed that you've been able to keep up this 'couldn't care less about your brothers' attitude for so long but you and I both know it's just all talk."

Seth tried to protest but was stopped as Lesnar gripped his neck and in one move almost effortlessly picked him up and body slammed him into the table in the middle of the room. Seth screamed as he landed on the table and his back and ribs reached a new level of pain that Seth didn't even know existed before. Black spots danced in Seth's eyes and he thought that he was going to black out but a stinging slap from Lesnar brought him back as the Beast sneered down at him.

"Stay with me, Sethie, I'm not even close to being done yet," mocked Brock as he reached down and grabbed Seth by the shirt again to bring the almost lifeless body of Seth up to his face.

Seth thought he heard a pounding at the door as he was roughly manhandled by Lesnar but rejected that notion quickly and supposed it must be the pounding in his head that he was actually hearing. Seth screamed again as Brock mercilessly punched him in the ribs again and this time he definitely felt a couple of them break.

"Now, Seth," said Lesnar as he took Seth's jaw in a bruising grip, "pay attention so that you can deliver my message to Reigns."

* * *

Dean whistled a nonsensical tune as he strode down the halls of WWE headquarters. He hadn't been lying during his promo, he actually did intend to spend his time here wandering the halls and checking out the rest of the building. I mean what else was he going to do around here, right, thought Dean to himself as he strode up to one of the vending machines and stared at the choices. Finding nothing to his liking, Dean continued down the hall, peering into the rooms and looking at the many pictures on the walls.

Just as Dean rounded a corner, he spotted the rotund figure of Paul Heyman lock a certain door in the distance and then subsequently run away down the opposite end until he was out of sight. Heyman hadn't noticed Dean watching him.

_Curious_, thought Dean to himself. He had never witnessed Heyman running before. Fast waddling or jogging maybe but never actually running. It was quite a comical sight although Dean couldn't help but wonder what had made the man run in the first place. What was behind that door?

Dean stayed where he was for a few moments waiting to see if Heyman would come back when he didn't, Dean walked down the hall until he came to the door that Paul had locked. Dean peered at the door for a second and tried the handle just to make sure it was locked and it was. There were no windows into the room so Dean had no idea what kind of a room it was or what it contained.

Suddenly, Dean jumped as he heard bodies moving around from within the room and then a cry. Dean's heart leapt into his throat. He recognized that cry, he would have recognized that cry anywhere. _Seth!_

"Seth!" yelled Dean as he jiggled the handle again and pounded his hand against the door trying to will it open but it wouldn't budge. Dean saw red as he heard Seth cry out again and it was louder this time. Dean also knew for a fact that this wasn't one of Seth's acting cries that he did in the ring, Seth was really being hurt.

Dean ran a hand through his hair furiously trying to think. Seth had taught him how to pick a lock before but Dean had nothing in which to try and do that. _Heyman! He had the key._ Dean ran down the hallway and turned left where he had seen the cowardly manager run off. However, Dean groaned in frustration nearly tearing his hair out as he saw that this building truly was a maze. There were many other hallways that splintered off down that one, Heyman could be anywhere by now.

"Dean! Hey!"

Dean turned back around to spot Roman who was walking towards him from the opposite end of the hall.

"I didn't know you were here," began Roman with a grin as he called to his friend.

Dean didn't waste any time but sprinted towards Roman who regarded him cautiously as he saw his friend's crazed face.

"No time to explain. Seth needs our help," said Dean quickly as he grabbed his friend by his black, leather jacket and pulled him down the hall and then turned right as they reached the door. Roman allowed Dean to pull him but was still in the dark about why Seth needed help or what the perceived emergency was.

"We need to get this door open," explained Dean as he brought Roman in front of the door, "someone is in there and they are hurting Seth."

Roman heard unintelligible voices from behind the door but couldn't tell who it was. Roman turned back to Dean who was frantically searching his pockets, saying that he could pick the lock if only they had a paperclip.

"How do you know it's Seth?" began Roman but was cut off as he heard a loud scream from behind the door. Roman jumped in shock not expecting that and turned to Dean whose face had paled considerably. Roman now knew how Dean had known it was Seth. He would know his brother's cries and screams anywhere. "Forget picking the lock," growled Roman protectively as he stared down the door, "help me break down this door."

Roman then viciously gave the door a powerful kick. It didn't do much damage. Then Dean kicked it followed by Roman again. Dean and Roman's blood ran cold as Seth screamed again and this time even louder. Both of them were furious now and pounded the door until the hinges cracked and the door fell over. Roman and Dean spilled into the room just in time to catch Lesnar say to a barely conscious Seth, "…pay attention so that you can deliver my message to Reigns."

"I've got a better idea," growled Roman low and dangerous as he ripped Brock away from Seth and slammed him into the wall, "Why don't you tell me the message yourself?"

Brock was taken by surprise having been too focused on Seth to hear the pounding on the door or Roman coming up from behind him, so he was stunned for a second but only for a second. Recovering quickly, Brock shoved Roman away powerfully, grinned at the angry Samoan and said simply, "No need." Without another word, Brock spun on his heel and exited the room suddenly before Dean or Roman could say anything else. Roman made to go after the Beast but was stopped by Dean's anxious voice.

"Roman, we need to help Seth. Lesnar can wait." Dean crouched down by Seth's side as he surveyed the damage done to his friend. Dean could tell by the way Seth was holding himself stiff and awkwardly and how he was taking shallow breaths that Seth's ribs were hurting him immensely. "Seth, Seth can you hear me?" asked Dean gently as he brushed Seth's hair out of his face and examined Seth's pupils as he opened his eyes.

"Deaann," coughed Seth lightly as he stared up at him in disbelief, "Why are you here?"

"Silly question. Don't talk." Commanded Dean as he with the help of Roman pulled Seth to his feet which unfortunately caused him even more pain.

Seth couldn't keep his pained groans in as he squeezed his eyes shut. His whole torso felt like it had been hit repeatedly with a cement truck.

"By the vending machines, I spotted a trainer's room with first aid supplies," said Dean to Roman who nodded and the both of them wasted no time as they carried Seth to that room and carefully sat him down on the examination table.

"Seth, we have to get your shirt off," said Roman as Dean turned to get bandage to bind up Seth's ribs.

"Ro, I can barely move my arms," whispered Seth as he concentrated on breathing gripping the edge of the examination table tightly.

"On it," said Dean as he brought out a pair of scissors, "we'll just have to cut it off. You can borrow one of my shirts later if you don't have an extra one."

Seth barely managed a nod in response as Dean quickly cut his shirt off of him.

Both Roman and Dean shared a worried glance as they saw Seth's torso which was already bruising quite impressively.

"This is going to hurt, Seth," said Roman quietly as he and Dean began to wrap Seth's ribs.

Seth let out a hiss in response, gripping the table so hard that his knuckles turned white. Seth could barely focus on anything except the pain. Finally, Roman and Dean finished and laid Seth gently back, putting a pillow underneath his head. Dean then brought out some ice packs and systematically placed them lightly on Seth's torso. Roman then placed a blanket over Seth so that he wouldn't get too cold.

"Here, swallow these," instructed Dean as he placed a couple of pills in Seth's mouth and held up a glass of water to his lips so that Seth could swallow them down easily. Seth grimaced, it hurt even to swallow. "Are you in pain anywhere besides the ribs?" asked Dean as he examined Seth's pupils again now that they had better light.

"My whole back," breathed Seth as he struggled to speak, "and the back of my head and neck took a nasty jolt when he slammed me into the table."

"You've also got a nasty split on your lip," pointed out Roman as he also examined Seth for any further injury.

"I'll get another ice pack for that," stated Dean as he turned back to the freezer.

"Don't bother," said Seth miserably as another wave of pain hit him, "My arms are useless. I can't hold something to my lip right now."

"I'll do it for you," offered Roman as he lightly placed a comforting hand on Seth's shoulder and took the ice pack wrapped in a towel from Dean's hand and held it softly on Seth's lip so that it wouldn't swell too badly.

"Roman, Seth, I'm going to go look now for a trainer so that he can check to make sure you don't need a hospital," said Dean firmly as he started to go out the door and turned to look back and them to say one last thing, "Stay, here."

Roman and Seth looked at each other and chuckled slightly as their friend left the room.

"It sounded like he was dead serious," said Seth with a smile even though that action hurt his lip.

"I think he was," said Roman with a wide smile at Seth.

"I'm not going anywhere," said Seth with a small sigh and grimace as he laid his head back on the pillow and tried his best to get comfortable.

The two stayed like that in silence for a while. Finally, Seth spoke up. He couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"Why did you help me? You didn't have to. I would have deserved it," finished Seth as he stared down at the blanket fiddling with the edge of it.

Roman let out a breath as he thought for a few moments still holding the ice pack to Seth's lip.

"I figured after you helped Dean out of the closet. Yeah he told me," said Roman at Seth's surprised expression on his face, "I figured…you know…" Roman absently scratched his head as he thought of the right words. He was never good at expressing his feelings, "you couldn't have meant all that you said and that there had to be another story. Also, after I threw the cinder block at you that kind of released the worst of my anger," finished Roman with a shrug at Seth. "Everything else was just for show."

Seth nodded as he thought over Roman's words. He now felt even guiltier.

"Sooo…you gonna share?" asked Roman as he looked at Seth.

"Share what?" asked Seth the pain making him unable to think clearly.

"Why you did it?" asked Roman a little bit more roughly than he intended to.

Seth flinched at Roman's tone of voice and then winced because even the smallest movement sent spasms of pain throughout his body.

"I was selfish," admitted Seth as he sighed sadly.

"About what?" pressed Roman trying to be patient.

Seth gulped and clenched his fists as he wondered whether he should tell Roman or not. Ultimately, Seth figured he had nothing left to lose and decided to say it.

"The Authority approached me and said they had learned about my past and were going to broadcast it to the world in the form of a promo if I didn't agree to come over to the dark side," said Seth angrily as the memory of that conversation came back to him.

"That's it?!" asked Roman slightly offended that that was what made Seth betray them. "Seth…Dean's promos are chock full of his personal demons regarding his past. You mean to tell me that you couldn't handle even one little promo that was personal."

"Not this one!" yelled Seth at Roman and then instantly regretted that decision as he fell back onto the table and clutched his ribs from the pain of yelling and jolting upwards.

"Shit! Sorry, Seth," murmured Roman as he tried to calm Seth's breathing and ease his pain. Roman hated it when his friends were in pain even if he was still mad at Seth. Roman felt so useless and was wondering when Dean would get here with a trainer.

"No, I'm sorry shouldn't have yelled at you," mumbled Seth as he squeezed his eyes shut trying to stop the tears from coming but it was a little too late.

Roman felt even worse as he saw a couple of tears fall down Seth's cheeks. He had never seen Seth cry before. His friend must be in a world of hurt.

Seth decided right then to just say it before he lost his nerve. "The janitor sexually abused me in kindergarten."

Time for Roman seemed to stand still as he processed his friend's words. Of all the things that Roman had thought of that could have haunted Seth, he had never thought of this possibility.

"What?" said Roman so quietly still in shock.

"Please don't make me say it again," replied Seth as he looked up at Roman with more tears now streaming down his face.

"Ok, ok," said Roman nodding his head jumping into protective friend mode, "Shit, I'm an asshole. Yeah, ok. It's ok," said Roman as he rubbed his friend's arms feeling even more useless by the second.

"It's just," sniffed Seth trying to control his tears, "I can't…I wouldn't be able to do my job properly if everyone knew. I wouldn't have a shot at being the future of the company or even headlining Wrestlemania just once because they would think less of me."

"Who are 'they'" asked Roman trying to figure out what was going through his friend's head.

"Management, the fans, the guys in the locker room, everyone," said Seth as he let out a shaky breath, "they would think I was less of a man. They might not say it but they would think it."

"Seth, I understand you not wanting people to know but I don't think you are less of a man because of it," said Roman firmly. "You were in kindergarten, for God's sake, up against a grown man and even if you were a full grown man when it happened, I still wouldn't think less of you. I'm sorry, Seth, but that's bullshit thinking. Anyone who thinks that about you is bullshit. If anyone ever tells you that I will beat them up after of course you're done grinding them to a pulp."

Seth let out a soft laugh through his tears at his friend's insistence.

"Seth, man, you know I'm always here for you, right? You can tell me anything and I'll still be your friend. Dean too."

Seth swallowed as he nodded at Roman, "Yeah, now I do.

"Good," said Roman with a warm smile as he pressed his forehead to Seth's and the two of them clutched each other's hands in a fierce grip that communicated to each other that they would always have each other's backs no matter what.

**Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought about this one-shot.**


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